The Transportation Institute at the University of Denver (DTI) has elected four new members to its board of directors: Gary Crowther, Michael Frey, Tim Strauss and Beth Whited. With these new members, the 45-member DTI board will add air cargo and transportation infrastructure to its cross-section of industry representation. Crowther is the managing director of North American supply chain sales for Canadian National Railway. He has been with CN for 21 years in various management roles in both operations and sales. Frey is the founder and president of Pacific GeoSource, a pavement industry company.

Strauss is the vice president of Air Canada Cargo. He is responsible for all aspects of the airline’s cargo business. Whited is the executive vice president and chief human resources officer for Union Pacific Railroad. She is responsible for human resources, labor relations and employee-engagement initiatives from the Omaha, Neb., headquarters. Doug Brittin, executive director of operations at DTI, praised the “caliber” of the new board members. “Their collaborative expertise and leadership will strengthen our goal of educating the next generation of transportation managers through DTI,” Brittin said.

Gov. Kay Ivey has appointed T. Bestor Ward III as chair of the board of the Alabama State Port Authority.

He is the president of Mobile-headquartered Ward Properties Inc. Initially appointed to the board in October 2016 to fill a vacated seat. Ward received his reappointment from the governor in July. He represents one of two at-large seats on the board.

East Coast Warehouse & Distribution, a temperature-controlled logistics provider to the food and beverage industry located at the Port of New York/New Jersey and in Philadelphia, has named Ted Nelson (pictured above) as chief information officer. Nelson has more than 20 years of technology experience in the logistics industry. CEO Jamie Overley said Nelson’s "background, track record and professional accolades are all strengths that will benefit us as continue to increase our utilization of cutting-edge technologies across our state-of-the-art facilities and expand our company as a whole.”

Nelson previously was the vice president of information technology for Alba Wine & Spirits in Edison, N.J. East Coast Warehouse & Distribution said Nelson “has proven experience driving efficiencies throughout the supply chain process for industry-leading organizations such as NFI Industries, Taylored Services and Ozburn-Hessey (Geodis).”

AASHTO and its member state departments of transportation stand ready to work with the administration and Congress on a national plan to shore up the Highway Trust Fund and make the investments needed to modernize our aging transportation infrastructure.

Jim Tymon, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials executive director

Association of American Railroads data shows U.S. rail traffic rose to 2,554,655 carloads and intermodal units in January, which was a 1.1 percent increase from January 2018.